Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arrived in Beijing on Monday to emphasize diplomatic relations and discuss the war in Ukraine and the situation in the Asia-Pacific region.
Lavrov’s meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi comes as the two countries agree on a number of issues and are increasingly at odds with democracies and NATO members.
Lavrov’s visit, which will last until Tuesday, coincides with the conclusion of four days of talks between U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Chinese officials in Beijing on economic issues.
Yellen said of her visit that she had “difficult conversations” about national security issues, including U.S. concerns that Chinese companies have been supporting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Last week, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said “China continues to provide supplies to support Russia’s defense industrial base.”
Despite maintaining strong economic ties with Russia, China insists it does not provide Russia with weapons or military aid. On Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning said, “China has always maintained an objective and fair stance on the Ukrainian issue.”
She added, “China is not the author or party to the Ukraine crisis, and we have not and will not do anything to profit from it.”
Just weeks before Russia invades Ukraine in 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping signed an “open-ended” agreement on relations between the two countries. Since the agreement was signed, China has supported Russia’s rhetoric about invasion and agreed with Western powers in provoking the conflict. However, Beijing has officially urged peace talks to end the conflict.
Mao Zedong said on Monday that Beijing would “continue to promote peace talks in our own way” [and] Maintain communication with Russia, Ukraine and other relevant parties. “
She added that “relevant countries should not discredit and attack the normal state-to-state relations between China and Russia… nor should they blame China and provoke group confrontation,” apparently referring to the United States.
Russia has faced dozens of sanctions since its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, largely isolating the country from the Western world. As a result, diplomatic and economic ties between Moscow and Beijing have strengthened, making Russia China’s fastest-growing trading partner.
In addition to economic cooperation, the two countries have also increased strategic cooperation and jointly held military exercises aimed at exerting influence on developing countries through various measures.
Last month, China’s Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong said relations between Beijing and Moscow were “at their best period in history.”
This report contains information from Reuters, the Associated Press and AFP.
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